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The objectives of this study were to investigate the Fusarium damage-deoxynivalenol (FUS DMG-DON) relationship in various wheat growing locations in western Canada in 2016 and to compare the relationships to the Prairie-wide FUS DMG-DON assessment of that harvest year. Fusarium head blight was prevalent in spring wheat and durum grown in western Canada in 2016. Harvest survey samples for Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) wheat and Canada Western Amber Durum (CWAD) were inspected for Fusarium damaged kernels, and analyzed using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the Fusarium-produced mycotoxin DON. For CWAD and most CWRS, there was a significant relationship between FUS DMG (represented as the mass percentage of Fusarium damaged kernels) and DON, whose presence is regulated in food products to minimize consumers' exposure. However, CWRS from south-central Alberta contained much lower DON than expected by the reported visual symptoms of FUS DMG of the samples. High throughput real-time PCR analysis showed that DON-producing Fusarium species were associated with less than 40% of the Fusarium damaged kernels in the CWRS. This was different from what was observed with CWAD grown in the same area in 2016. Multi-mycotoxin analysis by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry did not show an increased presence of mycotoxins produced by other Fusarium species, and therefore suggested that the observed damage in CWRS from south-central Alberta was not caused by Fusarium species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perchlorate is a low molecular weight highly soluble anion. It occurs naturally in the environment, primarily near potash deposits and in arid regions. The determination of perchlorate in human milk is of interest in vulnerable populations such as infants and pregnant women. In this study, a sensitive and selective isotope dilution ion chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (ID IC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the determination of perchlorate in human milk samples collected from the Maternal-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals (MIREC) Study. The limit of detection (LOD) was 0.27 µg·kg−1 for human milk. A total of 439 human milk samples were analysed with measurable levels of perchlorate in most of the milk samples, and the mean value was 7.62 ± 32.7 µg·kg−1. This project provided important information related to perchlorate levels in human milk collected across Canada and the extent to which pregnant women and their infants may be exposed to perchlorate. A dietary exposure assessment was also conducted in infants based on the measured values in human milk. The mean perchlorate probable daily intakes (PDIs) for infants consuming human milk were 0.31 ± 0.07 μg/kg bw/day for infants under 1 year and 0.17 ± 0.10 μg/kg bw/day for infants between 1 and 3 years old. None of the estimates exceeded the FAO/WHO provisional maximum tolerable daily intake (PMTDI) of 10 μg/kg bw/day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]